Feminist Friday: Tennessee How Crazy We Can GetÂ

Happy Friday, you fantastic feminists! As always, we will move from the grody to the wonderful.

Who’s Disrespecting You and Your Ladybits This Week?

Tennessee is flat-out going nuts. Is there something in the barbecue? In addition to working to bring creationism back into its schools (Somehow it’s always just one religion’s creation story. You’ll never guess which.), the Tennessee legislature has passed a law making the killing of any fertilized egg murder. And it’s a broad enough bill that anything that causes a miscarriage – one representative listed secondhand smoke and minor accidents as examples – could be prosecuted.

Because if there’s one thing a woman needs after a miscarriage, it’s having it investigated as a crime. Which is, in fact, happening quite a bit nowadays. Somehow these laws have a way of getting turned against the pregnant women they’re supposed to protect.

A South Carolina Senate panel approved a new budget clause on Tuesday removing state aid for abortions for women who are rape or incest victims. The full state Senate will debate the bill next. Number of women in the South Carolina State Senate? Zero.

The Iowa house approved a similar measure. In both states now, the life of the mother is the only exemption. And since more and more states are deciding that it’s irrelevant if a woman has already been a victim of a traumatic crime, how long can we count on that exemption staying in there?

That’s why it’s important to pay attention to your dumb little local elections. (Or run in them!) The creeps can get a real foothold in the unsexy races that don’t get a lot of play in the news, and boy, can they do a lot of damage from there.

Oh, did you think Tennessee was going to let some other state run away with the jerkloon title? Not so fast. Tennessee State Representative Jeremy Faison said that gay kids commit suicide not because of bullying but because they haven’t been instilled with proper values. After being informed by many, many people that he is a horrible dipwad, Faison said that he regretted his choice of words, but still didn’t want any anti-bullying legislation. I would like to point out that there are many, many people in Tennessee who, unlike Representative Faison, are not horrible dipwads. I hope they turn out to vote in November.

This Week in Not Helping

The Senate agreed to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act after Republicans realized that people are actually watching them and right now and that essentially saying that violence against women is no big schmeal doesn’t really help dispel the whole war-on-women problem they’re having. (Pro tip: Stop waging it!) House Republicans are still being tools, however, and are planning to propose alternate legislation. Once you can stop punching the walls, I’m guessing that alternate legislation should be pretty hilarious.

Also not helping? Missouri Senate candidate Sarah Steelman, who, when asked her opinion on the Violence Against Women Act, said she’s not sure what it is. She said she’ll totes study up on things like that once she starts serving. Ugh. Run for office and know what the hey you’re doing, OK?

If you’d like to study up on the Violence Against Women Act before your Senate term begins, ThinkProgress ran an extremely useful infographic.

And in the reeeeeally not helping category, Fox News thingbot Monica Crowleymade a heelarious joke about Sandra Fluke’s announced engagement.

Get it? Well, no, I don’t either. Mostly because it’s not funny and Fox News was busy calling Fluke an overenthusiastic heterosexual just ten minutes ago. But I guess women who have strong opinions must be gay, and as we all know, there is something inherently hilarious about and wrong with that.

Crowley responded pretty terribly, playing the victim card – because people who object to her homophobia are the real bigots –

@snarkandboobs Hi Lori! You knew the insane hate tsunami was approaching in 3..2..1..

Thanks for nothing, Ms. Crowley! Your attempt to tear down a woman for the crime of speaking in public, your homophobia, and your subsequent cowardly weaseling make for quite the Not Helping hat trick! Next time at least have the courage of your repellent convictions!

J.K. Rowling may also be doing some singing after she’s awarded the Freedom of the City of London in May. I’m pretending that means she gets to walk into any building she wants at any time, including private houses. Please don’t tell me any differently.

Let’s finish off with a double fist of io9. Fantasy writer Jim C. Hines has been giving gender roles a little tweak by posing as the studly guys and windblown women on the covers. Of popular novels. His funny series of women’s poses with some serious thoughts about how we expect women to pose for us is pretty great.

And finally, awesome dad Jason Lee has taken a terrific series of magical, adventurous, fun, fun, fun photos of his daughters. I love how active the girls are in them, and how they’re masculine, feminine, and everything in between.